Show Me the Money: Why We Need Financial Literacy in Schools

Understanding money matters, yet most schools do not prioritize teaching students personal finance skills. Financial literacy education equips students with critical tools to navigate the economic realities they will soon face. Courses in budgeting, saving, investing, credit, and taxes give students foundational know-how to manage financial decisions responsibly. Whether opening a first bank account, building an emergency fund, avoiding predatory loans, or mapping an educational and career path aligned to earning potential, applied money management techniques resonate. Financial literacy fosters life-long skills for economic empowerment and success. Equipping youth to make prudent monetary and economic choices also has far-reaching societal benefits. Personal finance in the classroom invests in students’ future stability and prosperity.

Here are the topic pages from the digital financial literacy website in South Africa, Code Cash, which gives a great snapshot of what people are interested in: